Payday: The Heist is replay friendly

Payday: The Heist may only feature six banks, but Overkill Software says it has endless replayability.

“The objectives in the heist remain the same; the way you achieve those objectives can be different from play-through to play-through,” creative director Simon Viklund told the US PS Blog.

“It’s not just the pacing of the attack waves and the enemy’s entry points that change, but also things like the behavior of NPCs and their tactics. Certain people you need to locate are always found in different places, a bag of C4 dropped from a helicopter sometimes lands on the roof, sometimes in the back alley, etc.

“There’s a heist we call ‘Slaughterhouse’ in which you shoot at an armored car to make it stop. Depending on when you manage to stop the armored car, its final position will differ – and that greatly effects how the rest of the scenario plays out!

“Another element that adds to the replayability is the statistics that measure your success during a heist: How many civilians did you kill? How fast did you complete the heist? You can decide to try to do a ‘clean hit’ and complete the level without killing any civilians, or simply polish your completion time.

“On top of this there are four difficulty settings, and while your are playing the game you constantly get new weapons and toys that you make you want to try new tactics in each heist: What if I set up trip mines here? What if I put a bag of extra ammo there? The scenarios weave into the hub style level design in such complex ways that seemingly small decisions can make a great impact.”

Payday: The Heist is a four-player co-op effort, and players can gain advantage by casing the bank thoroughly before beginning the heist, identifying security systems and targets before the madness starts. Having a clear objective will make controlling civilians less onerous, and since innocent bystanders represent your total number of respawns through prisoner exchange, you’ll want to make that a priority. Although the game contains no classes, players can customise to some extent by choosing upgrades and unlocks as they progress.

Payday: The Heist is expected on PC and PlayStation 3 via the PSN, with no release day set.

To refresh your memories, I’ve embedded the most recent trailer below; it shows off the game’s Panic Room scenario.